Gary Masyk (born 1960) is a businessman and politician in Alberta, Canada. Born in

High Prairie High Prairie is a town in northern Alberta, Canada within Big Lakes County. It is located at the junction of Highway 2 and Highway 749, approximately northeast of Valleyview and west of Slave Lake. History Describes the nature of the su ...

, Masyk owned Garco

Oilfield A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the presence ...

Service and Masyk

Lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

Company before entering politics. He was elected to the

Legislative Assembly of Alberta The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative assembly of the province of Alberta, Canada. It sits in the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton. The Legislative Assembly currently has 87 members, elected first past the post from singl ...

as a Progressive Conservative to represent

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

–Norwood in 2001. Masyk once attracted controversy when he advocated sending criminals to work in salt mines. Masyk is probably best known for his highly controversial comments that ran in an ''Edmonton'' Journal column on February 27, 2003; elaborating on his proposal to send repeat offenders to Russian salt mines, Masyk seemingly praised the hardline intimidation tactics employed in

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...

s during the

Stalinist Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory o ...

era. Appearing to disparage human rights, Masyk was forced by

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

Ralph Klein Ralph Philip Klein (November 1, 1942 – March 29, 2013) was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 12th premier of Alberta and leader of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta from 1992 until his retirement in 20 ...

to issue an apology on the following day. On June 29, 2004, Masyk left the

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

caucus A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures. The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to a meeting ...

after Premier Klein's health care policies became an issue and, according to Masyk, a factor in the outcome of the 2004 federal election. Masyk blamed Klein for the federal Conservative Party's defeat, and joined the upstart

Alberta Alliance The Alberta Alliance was a right wing provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Many of its members were supporters of the defunct Canadian Alliance federal political party and its predecessor, the Reform Party of Canada. Members also joined f ...

. He became that party's first

Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. S ...

(MLA). However, it was more likely that Masyk's defection was an act of defiance to a party that chastised him and removed his seat from the Edmonton electoral map, making it difficult for Masyk to gain a new Conservative nomination. Before the 26th Alberta general election, the

Edmonton Norwood Edmonton-Norwood was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting from 1959 to 2004. History The Edmonton-Norwood e ...

electoral district An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...

was merged with Edmonton Highlands. Although Masyk sought re-election in the November 22 vote, he ran in Edmonton—Decore to avoid a run against

Alberta New Democratic Party The Alberta New Democratic Party (french: Nouveau Parti démocratique de l'Alberta), commonly shortened to Alberta's NDP, is a social-democratic political party in Alberta, Canada. It is the provincial Alberta affiliate of the federal New Democr ...

leader,

Brian Mason Brian David Mason (born October 12, 1953) is a Canadian politician who was leader of the Alberta New Democratic Party from 2004 to 2014 and served the Minister of Transportation in Rachel Notley's NDP government. He also served as the Governme ...

. The Alliance proved to have little support in a city that was more interested in supporting a tight three-way race between the Tories, Liberals and NDP. On

election day Election day or polling day is the day on which general elections are held. In many countries, general elections are always held on a Saturday or Sunday, to enable as many voters as possible to participate; while in other countries elections ar ...

, Masyk placed fourth. Despite Masyk's loss, he was replaced in the Legislature by

Paul Hinman Paul Hinman (born 1959) is a Canadian politician and businessman. He is the former leader of the Wildrose Independence Party of Alberta since 2020 and was formerly the leader of the Wildrose Alliance (2008–2009) and Alberta Alliance Party (20 ...

from

Cardston-Taber-Warner Cardston-Taber-Warner was a provinces and territories of Canada, provincial electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first-past-the-pos ...

as the sole Alliance representative.

References

External links

Alberta Alliance PartyGary Masyk Report Alberta Ethics Commissioner
{{DEFAULTSORT:Masyk, Gary 1960 births Living people Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs Alberta Alliance Party MLAs 21st-century Canadian politicians